Although I live in Seoul, Korea where crossfires are extremely rare, I think my feelings should hold true just about anywhere that i've lived or visited.
I've had my crossfire for a little over 2 years now. Prior to this, for sports cars, I had a Porsche 996 GT3, a Nissan 300zx twin turbo (stillen limited version), and a mitsubishi eclipse gsx for the 7 years I lived in the US. These are the sports cars that I am comparing my experience of owning my crossfire to.
When I first returned back to Korea, I had a choice of a used Porsche boxster, new mercedes SLK 230 (they have different engines in Korea), a new 3.0 BMW z4, or my yellow non-srt6 crossfire roadster. Note that the crossfire costs a little over USD 70k in Korea.
So, you ask, how did I end up choosing my crossfire? I know that in the states, and even in Korea, the other cars listed above are considered more luxurious, have better brand value, and are considered in a class above. So if money wasn't a problem why the crossfire?
Maintenance
For starters, having owned several german, swedish, and italian cars, I know the cost of maintenance. I'm sure you all know as well. Now multiply the numbers you know by 4 and you'll come to the cost of maintenance in Korea. An oil change on my crossfire here is KRW 210,000, roughly USD 230. That being said, i'm amazed at how little maintenance this car requires. In the two years that I've owned the car, I have done nothing. And I mean NOTHING to the car, other than oil change and a rotor turn. This is coming from someone that beats on their car almost everyday on teh way to and on the way back from work. The car purrs like a cat and I don't expect any maintenance on the car anytime soon. It's friggin ridiculous how this car doesn't rattle at all, has good gear shifts, and doesn't burn any oil. In the extreme cold (even in negative 10 degrees) and in the extreme heat, never had any problems.
Despite what top gear said about this car, I believe the build quality is fabulous in terms of reliability. It may not be the fastest car out there, but hey when you live in a congested city, you can't really go that fast anyway.
Looks Looks Looks
My God this car is beautiful. For those of you that live in areas where there are a lot of exotics or luxury cars, I'm sure you know what it's like to have the hot car on the block. I live in an area of Seoul known as UN village where generally everyone drives a foreign car. In my villa complex there is a mclaren slr, a pagani zonda f, ferraris, lambos, g wagen, porsche 997 gt2, bentley arnage and continental gt, maserati quattroporte, etc... I think you get the picture. Needless to say that while those cars are extremely beautiful cars, with endless amounts of horsepower, they just can't be driven everyday without the worry of the USD 20,000 clutch repair on the porsche cgt or maserati, or the USD 30,000 15k maintenance on the ferraris or the lambos, which in my opinion is ridiculous. So while their cars are garage queens and they have their drivers take them in their hyundai equus' or ssangyong chairmans to work everyday, I get to drive my crossfire roadster in style and in the drivers seat with no worries at all.
Now... with all these nice cars around, wouldn't you feel inferior? Hell no. i've had almost everyone of my close neighbors ask me about my car. I changed the badges to Startech, so there aren't any identifying markers. they all thought it was some ultra luxury limited edition one off from some little known british manufacturer like noble or something. When I tell them that it's a chrysler made in benz's amg factory, they all drop their jaws as if I just told them the biggest lie they've ever heard. then i tell them the price and they ask me if they're for sale in Korea. which they aren't anymore so tough **** for them.
If you've ever visited Seoul, you would know that benz's, bmw's, and porsches even ferrari's are a dime a dozen. yes, you will still turn your head for a ferrari or even a porsche gt series, but a carrera... nah... I'm sure, though, that many of you bought this car for it's looks and for the looks that you'll get in the car. I mean lets be honest, part of having a sports car is knowing that you'll get looked at right? Well, let me tell you that this car is HOT. I can't tell you how many times people roll down their window just to ask me about the car or to tell me it's hot. Same thing goes when the car's parked on the street, sure enough when I get back to the car there are either finger prints on the windows (from people peering in) or there are a few people standing around looking at the car from different angles. yes, the fact that it's yellow does make it a little obnoxious, but who the hell cares? would you say the same thing to a person driving an orange murcielago? didn't think so. so if a lotus is considered a limited edition toy sports car, then in Korea, the crossfire is certainly anything but ordinary. it is HOT!
Sound System
I don't think i have to tell anyone on this board about the sound system and about how friggin awesome it is. Having had a t-top and having been in countless roadsters in the past, you know that driving on the highway and listening to music at the same time are almost impossible. the crossfire, however, is amazing at this feat. maybe it's the fact that the rumble from the exhaust just isn't deep enough to drown out the sound system, but when you're cruising on the highway with the top down, who the hell cares about having the loudest most obnoxious exhaust note... it's almost dizzying when it's like that... back from the import car days, i'm sure you'll all agree that it's damn annoying after 10 minutes of driving. I love the crisp bass and clear mids and highs from my sound system ... damn good lovin sounds...
Leather Leather and more Leather
for those of you who have had porsches, you can appreciate a nice interior. porsche is by far one of the cheapest crappiest interior's you can find in a luxury sports car. starting from the old 930's, 993's, 996's and even now in the 997's, they still have a long way to go in building a quality interior. after a few years of use, the stictching starts to wear down, the leather begins to fade, and rattles everywhere. the dealers always say it's because they focus on performance, and they want a lighweight interior, blah blah... and of course they can always fix it for you at 100 dollars an hour.
The crossfire, on the other hand, is smooth supple, almost british like leather. the steering wheel, the awesome beautiful seats, and the dash are great. i don't know if it's only my car, but damn! it's awesome. even the door trims. who the hell designed this car anyway? he should get some kind of award or something. also gotta love the imprints in the headrests. fyi, I have the black and ivory leather interior.
Conclusion
Okay, so lets face it, the handling and speed of this car are not the best in the world, but most of us are not professional race car drivers. this car beats most of the cars in its class and quite frankly keeps up with many cars which are considered in classes above. did I ever tell you about the time against the new m5 and the cls63 on the highway? if not, i should post vids... i digress. all in all you have to agree that the crossfire is all around beautiful, has sweet rims, nice interior, great sound system, and bang for the buck awesome car... no maintenance did I mention that already?
Hope I didn't bore y'alls too much with all by blabber... just had to get this off my mind.
btw, for those of you who haven't seen it, here's a short clip of my wife driving the crossfire...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45Z_3jh6xkE